In California, a legal battle between Apple and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation will continue for some time.

    

 From VOA learning English. This is the technology report. The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, or FBI, has taken legal action in the American court system against the technology company Apple. 

The case involves an Apple iPhone five C. The smartphone belongs to killer Syed Faruk. Faruk and his wife murdered 14 people in San Bernardino, California on December 2. They were killed in a gun battle with police. 

Later the same day, investigators found an iPhone Faruk used. Faruk was employed by the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health. They own Faruk's iPhone five C. The Public Health Department gave the FBI permission to collect information from the phone for their investigation. 

But the phone is locked with a secret password. The phone has a built in tool that will remove all its information if the password is not correct. After trying ten times last month, a judge in Riverside, California, ordered Apple to create software to unlock the phone. 

The judge's order was supported by the FBI. Apple CEO Tim Cook claims the order violates Apple consumers privacy rights and sets a bad example. He says it could take away the freedoms and liberty that government is meant to protect. 

Cook considers the software too dangerous to create. Once created, he argues, criminals could use the software to unlock iPhones and steal private information. This case may be argued for many months and years to come. 

For VOA learning English. I'm Carolyn Prasuti.